Saturday Lecture Series: The Enlightenment

Good morning all! Today we return to the friendly environs of Prof Eugen Weber’s lecture hall. This lecture is one of his finest. THe Ethiopian Yrgacheffee is fresh and our Grad As CJ has just returned from the bakery with some lovely croissants, enjoy!

34. The Enlightenment
Intellectual theories about the nature of man and his potential came to the fore.

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We're not easily offended and don't want people to think they have to walk on eggshells around here (like at another place that shall remain nameless) but of course, there is a limit to everything.

It’s always interesting to watch Weber’s lectures even if I disagree with him in minor facts. There had never been Potyomkin villages. This is a legend based on the libel of the diplomat Georg von Helbig who was envious and jelous of Potyomkin’s relationship to Catherine the Great.

I also disagree with him about the Habsburg emprire and serfdom in Transylvania but this is very complicated and the animosity between Hungarians and Romanians in Trasylvania still isn’t solved today.

Interesting. I am about to start Massie’s ‘Catherine the Great’ biography. We gave it to my sister-in-law for Christmas and I felt cheated. lol. There are many biographies out on Catherine and Peter, but I read ‘Nicholas and Alexandra’ by Massie many years ago and liked it so much. Nice big fresh hard cover book, yum. Just old school forever in a technological age.